The present invention is directed to a method for manufacturing an optical cable wherein the respective group of light waveguides are mechanically combined to form bands or ribbons and the bands or ribbons are subsequently subjected to a cabling process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,013, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which claims priority from the same German application as European Application A1 0 356 786, discloses an optical cable wherein a cable element is provided with approximately rectangular chambers. Such a structure is also referred to as a "chambered cable" and are frequently utilized together with ribbon lines, wherein a plurality of light waveguides are combined to form a band or ribbon having an approximately rectangular cross section. A plurality of these bands or ribbons are united to form a stack of bands or ribbons and the stack is matched to the respective approximately rectangularly fashioned chamber on the basis of its outside contour, which is likewise rectangularly fashioned. Since the chambers proceed helically along the core of the cable, the insertion of the bands or ribbons into the chambers implies a stranding event and this necessarily involves a torsion established by the "length of lay" of the chambers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,185, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which claims priority from German Application 38 08 037, discloses that light waveguides can be introduced into a chamber of a chambered cable via an appropriate guide means. To this end, the core element comprises chambers and is turned or rotated on its axis and a stationary laying means is employed. Within the framework of the kinematic reversal, of course, it is also possible to work with a rotating laying means and to only move the core element in an axial direction, but not to rotate it on its axis.